Mauldons the Black Adder Brewery in Sudbury is taking two of its beers to Sheffield to compete in the BeerX National Beer Competition 2014, organised by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

The society was founded in 1980 to represent the UK’s smaller, independent breweries and today it has almost 800 brewer members.

Mauldons’ Black Adder Stout and Blackberry Porter earned their place at the national competition by winning the porters, stouts, old ales, strong mild and bottled speciality beer categories in the regional heat.

The brewery’s entry is one of just a handful to represent the eastern region at BeerX, where it will be judged against brews of the same style from seven other regions. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded in each category, as well as three ‘supreme champion awards’ given to the beers judged to be the best cask, keg and bottled beers.

After the judging by a panel of more than 100 judges, all of the ales will be sold to beer enthusiasts at the BeerX Festival of Beer, which will runs from now until Saturday evening and will feature more than 200 varieties of beer.

Mauldons owner Steve Sims said: “We are very proud of our beers and delighted to have this opportunity to compete on a national stage, against some of the finest beers from all over the UK. Obviously, we’re hoping to come home from BeerX with a medal, but we’re happy just to be going to Sheffield and introducing our beer to hundreds of drinkers who haven’t tried it before.

“We’re grateful to everyone at our brewery who has helped us to brew great beer, and to the many local pubs, shops and drinkers who have supported us.”

SIBA chief executive Julian Grocock said the number of smaller brewers had grown rapidly over recent years, making competition at the regional heats “increasingly fierce”. He added: “To go through to the BeerX National Beer Competition is a mark of a quality beer and Mauldons should be proud of their achievement.”